Monthly Events:
The WTM or Wellness Through Mindfulness is a community dedicated to offering free teachings on Mindfulness and related topics. It’s our goal to give you events that provide learning and experiences that allow you to continue to deepen your mindfulness practice. Events will include a talk, guided meditation, and time for questions and discussion. These events are suitable for all levels of practice. A few key points when registering:
- Events are scheduled on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month from 7 – 8:30 pm.
- These are free events.
- They are offered as either Zoom on line or In Person meetings. Beginning March 16, 2023 we will be offering the first hybrid meeting.
- Join us for the In Person meeting at the Shaganappi Community Association Hall (2516 14 Ave SW, Calgary AB T3C 3V2)
- Join us for Tea at the In Person meetings at 6:30 – 7pm for a chat and to create community.
- For environmental reasons if you can please bring your own tea cup.
- If you would like to volunteer to help set up the hall please come at 6:15pm
- If you have any outstanding Library Books please bring them back to the In Person meeting
- After you register for the event, you will be sent a confirmation email with registration details on how to connect and participate in the event online with Zoom.us or in person.
- If you are unable to attend the live event, know that you can always view the talk on our website one week after the original date.
DONATIONS
At WTM all the events are offered free. The speakers and organizers are not paid. However we do have costs to keep these events happening. If you feel that they have been of benefit to you a donation would be greatly appreciated..
Click here to read more how as little as a $5 donation for each event can help and how to donate.
EDUCATIONAL FORUMS
These sessions are provided strictly with the intention to provide education. It is not a forum intended to deal with specific personal issues one might have. Wellness Through Mindfulness and the participating speakers’ content and presentations are not to be used as a substitute for counselling, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, mental health care, substance abuse treatment, or other professional advice by legal, medical, or other qualified professionals. It is the participant’s exclusive responsibility to seek such independent professional guidance as needed.
COVID POLICY
To our wonderful WTM community,
First of all, thank you for your ongoing support and participation in our past events. We care deeply about you, and the health of those around you, both here in our city and the extended communities we travel and interact with. As a result, we’ve been reluctant to return to in-person events, but given recent Provincial guidelines, we have decided to return to hosting our events in-person and online from the Shaganappi Community Centre. The past couple of years have not been an easy time adapting to the demands COVID 19, but we are ready to come back together in mindful, non-harming ways.
We invite you to make the choice that is right for you while attending our events in person with the following considerations:
- If you are feeling unwell, please do not attend our live events.
- Use hand sanitizer or wash your hands upon arriving and leaving, after using a washroom, or if you’ve eaten.
- Masking and vaccinations are recommended but not required
- It is the responsibility of the individual to determine your personal risk. WTM will not be held responsible for any incidents of contracting COVID 19 after attending a live event.
If you have any sign of a flu, cold, or were recently diagnosed with COVID 19 we’ve implemented this policy to ensure we offer our events to the community in the safest possible way.
We respect and honour all your choices. We are happy to see you online or in person. It’s your participation in this community that makes it so special and worthwhile. We hope to do our part in keeping this, and the extended community safe and healthy.
Please email us with any questions or concerns.
The WTM Team
Schedule of Events:
Click Here to Register Now
After registering, if you are experiencing any problems accessing the event on the day of the meeting you can send a message to wtm.yyc@gmail.com
Insights Learned from 80 Years of Cumulative Mindfulness Practice
April 6, 2023 – 7:00 – 8:30pm
Join Christine Francoeur, Allan Donsky, Leslie Ellestad and Phil Blustein as they share the essence of what they have learned in their contemplative practice.
Why wait 80 years to learn these essential insights of practice! Following the talk will be an open Q & A on any mindfulness topic you have.
On Zoom or In Person at the Shaganappi Community Association Hall (2516 14 Ave SW, Calgary)
Join us for tea at the hall at 6:30pm
Click Here to Register Now
After registering, if you are experiencing any problems accessing the event on the day of the meeting you can send a message to wtm.yyc@gmail.com
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
April 20, 2023 – 7:00 – 8:30pm
led by Pam Hauck BSc, MBA, MofCounselling
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) combines cognitive behavior techniques with mindfulness strategies to help individuals better understand and manage their thoughts and emotions. Cognitive therapy aims to help clients grow and find relief from symptoms of mental illness, such as depression and anxiety, through modification of dysfunctional thinking. Where Mindfulness can be summed up as the practice and state of being aware of our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and body sensations on a continuous basis and contributes to the acceptance of the self as it is, without attaching value judgements to thoughts.
Combining these two therapy modalities, MBCT is a powerful therapeutic tool that can be successfully applied to treatment of depression, anxiety, ongoing stress, chronic pain, and a full range of mental and physical health concerns.
MBCT uses the platform of moment to moment, non judgemental attention to support participants in developing a different relationship with thoughts, which are often closely intertwined with feelings. From the perspective of mindfulness practice, a person can begin to see thoughts (including upsetting, sad or disturbing thoughts) as simply mental phenomena that come and go and do not necessarily have any inherent meaning or value
MBCT was first developed in 2002 by Zindel Segal (University of Toronto), Mark Williams (University of Wales) and John Teasdale (Oxford University) as an innovative approach to prevent relapse in patients with histories of depression. Early empirical evidence for the efficacy of MBCT in this population has supported further applications of MBCT of other settings and populations.
MBCT is used as part of the National Health System in the UK to treat mood disorders and has recently been adopted by the Alberta Government and AHS to support the Primary Care Network in treating Albertans suffering during and post covid.
On Zoom or In Person at the Shaganappi Community Association Hall (2516 14 Ave SW, Calgary)
Join us for tea at the hall at 6:30pm
Click Here to Register Now
After registering, if you are experiencing any problems accessing the event on the day of the meeting you can send a message to wtm.yyc@gmail.com
Mindful Listening: Attending to the Silence of the Heart
May 4, 2023 – 7:00 – 8:30pm
led by Dr. Allan Donsky
Mindfulness invites us to pay attention to the inner world where we simultaneously find a silent, empty and full heart.
In this session we will explore aspects of our inner life where paradoxes and contradictions live side by side.
In attending to the relationship of these opposites we may see a unity where peace, beauty and joy fill what was once an empty space.
On Zoom or In Person at the Shaganappi Community Association Hall (2516 14 Ave SW, Calgary)
Join us for tea at the hall at 6:30pm
Other Events:
Calgary Insight Meditation Society
presents
Joy: An Inner Wellspring with Jeanne Corrigal
March 31 – April 2, 2023
A Weekend Non-residential Retreat
The Buddha invites us to ‘Live in Joy’, touching its source in our own hearts. Mindfulness allows us to clearly see subtle joys and how to cultivate them, even in challenging times: joy sustains the heart and leads to liberation. This retreat will touch reliable kinds of joy that are accessible in every moment, open our eyes to unexpected sources of joy, and explore the role joy plays in awakening.
This retreat is suitable for early and experienced meditators.
Registration is open – click here for more information and to register
NEW TOPIC OR SPEAKER
We are always looking for interesting speakers and topics to present at the WTM. If you have an idea for a speaker or topic please email your thoughts to: wtm.thebreathproject.org
Thanks from the WTM
Check out our Resources Page for great new information and resources.